Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoes larger damages for veterans who died from Legionnaire's at Quincy veterans home

Phil Carlson/The Quincy Herald-Whig

Gov. Bruce Rauner with residents and family members of the Illinois Veterans Home after a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, at Smith Hall on the campus of the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.

Gov. Bruce Rauner with residents and family members of the Illinois Veterans Home after a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, at Smith Hall on the campus of the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy. (Phil Carlson/The Quincy Herald-Whig)

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday vetoed legislation that would have increased from $100,000 to $2 million the maximum damage award families of veterans who died due to Legionnaire’s disease at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy could have sought from the state.

Rauner has come under fire over his administration’s handling of repeated annual outbreaks at the home that began in 2015 with the deaths of a dozen people and illnesses to scores more. Since then, at least two more deaths have been associated with the disease.

At least a dozen lawsuits have been filed since the initial outbreak, claiming negligence by the state. The Republican governor’s Democratic challenger, J.B. Pritzker, has accused Rauner of “fatal mismanagement” at the veterans home, which is now undergoing a reconstruction.

In its legal filings, the state has denied any negligence and Rauner has said the state has followed all recommendations of federal experts at the Quincy home. In April, Rauner’s veterans affairs director resigned.

Rauner has stayed at the facility several times, including last weekend.

In his amendatory veto of the bill, Rauner wrote that raising the $100,000 cap on damages to $2 million through the state Court of Claims was “effectively ignoring the impact of vastly expanded future litigation on the fiscal position of the state and its taxpayers.”

“I recognize that the current law is outdated and in need of adjustment,” he wrote. “However, this adjustment should reflect regional and national averages in order to properly compensate those who, once properly adjudicated, were found harmed by the state of Illinois.”